


Mechanical Man

by Akira_of_the_Twilight



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Future, Android Tony Stark, Cyborg Bucky Barnes, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-12 11:50:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11736468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akira_of_the_Twilight/pseuds/Akira_of_the_Twilight
Summary: Prompt: Tony's an android that's linked up/can communicate with other tech while Bucky's a cyborg. Maybe Bucky finds Tony lying in a trash pile somewhere, Tony had been on the run from people who had been using him for bad things and ran out of power. Bucky fixes him up and Tony pays him back by upgrading his arm. Bucky's surprised by the level of detail in Tony's work and how advanced he is, it turns out Tony was Stark Industries's secret weapon.Bucky rounded a trash pile and stopped just short of someone lying against the pile. A sheet stained with blood was draped over the person so only their face was visible. It was a man. The shaven design of the man’s facial hair suggested he was a resident of the inner rings.Bucky knew all about inner ring members being tossed to the outer rings.Bucky frowned and approached the man. It was then that Bucky realized the man wasn’t breathing.Even for a fresh corpse, the man would be showing signs of discoloration by now.Android.





	Mechanical Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beir/gifts).



The garbage under Bucky’s foot slipped and Bucky stumbled. His boot dove into the depths of the trash, and a neon green liquid splashed up from where his foot had landed. Bucky grimaced behind his facemask and yanked his foot out from the hole it had fallen into. He examined his boot, searching for any signs that the green liquid was acidic. He’d lost many boots that.

“You okay, Bucky?” Steve hollered from the trash hill just meters away from where Bucky was rummaging for anything that looked like it could be repaired and reused. Steve was a frail thing, and we would kick the ass of anyone who tried to remind him. Steve took the term “frail” as a slight against his height and lack of muscles; Bucky often have to defend the term via the fact that Steve was frail because he couldn’t go a month without some disease that left him bedridden for days. Even so, Steve punched him every time for the reminder—in a “friendly” manner, of course.

“I’m fine.” Bucky huffed. He kicked the head off a broken, one-eyed doll.

“What?”

“I’m fine,” Bucky raised his voice so Steve could hear him. He didn’t want to speak too loudly. Steve and Bucky weren’t the only ones who went through the garbage dump in search of goods, and not all the people who did so were the savory type.

Then again, most people who lived in the outer rings of Midgard had an edge and hardness to them. Those in the outer rings had barely enough to survive, and therefore had to get creative and aggressive with how they made their living.

Bucky’s left arm spasmed, and he dropped his sack of goods. He sighed and watched as his metal arm twitched without his say-so. The damn thing was always going off every now and then like it had a mind of its own.

Bucky was grateful to have an arm at all—he’d lost his flesh one some time ago—but it would be nice if he could go a day without it acting up.

Once his arm quelled its movements, Bucky picked up his sack, threw it over his shoulder, and skidded down the side of the trash hill. He’d looked the hill over thoroughly; it was time to check out another one.

Steve and he had come too late. Most of the goods brought in from the inner rings trash had already been taken. There wasn’t even the misplaced chunks of scrap metal that Bucky and Steve always made a point of grabbing. The scrap yard was guarded day and night, so the best place to get scraps was from the garbage dump. Steve and Bucky had witnessed many who tried to sneak into the scrap yard only to be tasered then taken somewhere to never be seen again. The scrap yard wasn’t worth the risk.

Bucky rounded a trash pile and stopped just short of someone lying against the pile. A sheet stained with blood was draped over the person so only their face was visible. It was a man, possibly a few years older than Bucky. The man’s hair even when mussed appeared to have been styled, and the shaven design of the man’s facial hair suggested he was a resident of the inner rings.

Bucky knew all about inner ring members being tossed to the outer rings, and while it wasn’t uncommon for such folks to wind up in the dump, looking for anything to get by, it usually wasn’t until a few days after they’d been booted. The man in front of Bucky looked too clean to have been in the outer rings that long.

Bucky frowned and approached the man. It was then that Bucky realized the man wasn’t breathing.

Even for a fresh corpse, the man would be showing signs of discoloration by now.

 _Android._  Bucky had run across plenty when the military still had humans in its employ and he had been a part of it. None had ever looked so human-like though. There had always been something that gave them away. Usually it was a seam or just simple positioning and movements that did not look natural on any human that gave away androids.

Bucky yanked the bloodied sheet off the android and prodded it. He jerked away in shock at the feel of flesh and warmth. Bucky’s heart pouded in his chest as doubt about whether or not the being before him was human or android slammed into him.

Perhaps the man was even a cyborg, like Bucky?

Bucky checked the man’s pulse but felt nothing. He gently flipped the man over. His nerves were on edge the whole time. If he was dealing with a living being then Bucky moving them should cause them to stir. No such thing happened though.

Bucky inhaled sharply at the round contraption in the man’s chest. A soft, barely there, blue light flickered within the device. The contraption looked like a power core, but if it was, it was barely emitting any power.

If the man was a cyborg then the device most likely was for his respiratory system and/or heart.

The man would die within the hour if that was the case.

Bucky forwent his sack of goods and slung the man onto his back. He was not going to let someone die in a dump.

* * *

 

“This is nuts.” Sam cocked the man’s head to the side and peered into the man’s ear. “I could almost believe he’s human.”

With the help of Steve, Bucky had carried the unconscious man (android?) home from the dump. They had been greeted by a curious and slightly panicked Sam, but once Bucky gave a quick explanation, Sam took the lead and set about examining the android.

“Almost?” Bucky crossed his arms over his chest as he did another once over of the android he’d found in the garbage dump. “What gives him away to you?”

“I don’t see anything different,” Steve said from his spot on the floor. He had a torn jacket in his lap and was doing what he could to salvage it.

“The moment I pried his eyelid open is what gave it away. Too perfect, especially for someone blacked out in the middle of a dump. Plus, he’s got a microphone in his ear. It’s subtle, but recognizable.” Sam let the android’s head flap down then went over to a box of cables the trio had collected over time. Sam hummed as he rifled through the cache until he found a gray cable. “This should do. I’m just going to hook it up to a battery, and see if we can get this guy operational again.”

“He could still be a cyborg,” Bucky countered. A person could be ninety-percent machine and they would still be considered a cyborg.

Bucky grabbed a car battery off one of their shelves of junk. Electricity was costly and a sudden spike in their electrical usage could draw attention from those Bucky and his friends would prefer not to know of their existence.

Sam took the battery from Bucky. “Well then, feel free to ask him when he wakes up, but until then, we’re going with my android theory. Unless you don’t want to trust the guy who you’ve been running to every time your arm starts acting funky.”

Bucky held up his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. You’re the boss.”

Sam would have the best guess out of any of them anyway. Bucky had loved taking tech apart and putting it back together when he was a kid, but his depth of knowledge only went to what had been common household items for him at the time. Sam was no scientist or engineer, but he’d picked up a few things while he’d been in the air force, and that had benefitted the trio of friends greatly.

“If he is an android, what are we going to do with him?” Steve inquired. His brow furrowed as he mulled over his own question. “Having an android around could be helpful, but it would draw a lot of attention. Someone will come to investigate to find out how a couple of ex-military living in the slums got a hold of one.”

“No one we know is going to want to buy him—it—either.” Bucky rubbed the a knot forming in the back of his neck. It’s not that people wouldn’t mind having an android—especially if it was one that was programmed for menial jobs and not just shooting enemy targets; however, no one had the credits to afford a fully functioning android, and just like the trio, most people didn’t want the government’s attention drawn toward them.

Bucky could take the android apart and use it for scrap. He’d have no problem doing it too if the android didn’t work, but if the android functioned properly it would pain Bucky to do so. Even if he knew there was no chance they could sell the android, it would still sting to know he was destroying something that sold for thousands of credits, if not more.

Sam patted the android on the head. “Well, while this fella charges, let’s take a look at the other crap you brought me.”

Bucky sighed, his thumb hooking around his belt as he shook his head in disappointment. “You’re going to cry.”

Sam didn’t cry outwardly when he rooted through Steve’s sack only to find a few pieces of junk that could be spruced up and used. Bucky swore though that inwardly his friend was tearing up and cursing out whoever he felt responsible for the lack of goods.

Bucky wasn’t the only one with the same opinion, because after a few seconds of Sam staring blankly at Steve findings, Steve clapped Sam on the shoulder and said: “We’ll make due.”

Bucky set about making lunch and let Steve assist Sam today on repairs. Sam wasn’t as much of bitch to Steve as he was to Bucky when their hauls were lacking. Obviously, Steve was Sam’s favorite.

Bucky had finished prepping the vegetables when he glanced over to the “parlor” (the parlor, which was also the living room, the workshop, the guest room, and sometimes an extension of the kitchen).

Bucky froze as unfamiliar brown eyes jumped from casually looking at Sam and Steve, who were combining two toasters into one, to zooming in on Bucky. The android was awake, and whatever the hell Sam had said about his eyes giving him away sure as fuck seemed to be a lie, because those eyes were pretty damn human looking. Hell, his eyes were even squinting like a human’s as he scrutinized Bucky’s metal arm. His skin wrinkled around his nose as he scrunched his face.

“You’re just three men from the slums,” the android said.

Steve and Sam jolted with surprise and whirled around to see the android was awake.

Sam cursed. “He looks a lot more human when he’s awake. Maybe he is a cyborg.”

The android (or whatever the fuck he/it was), cocked his head then smirked. He gestured to the car battery and wires hooked up to him. “I guess I owe you one. Thanks for the recharge.”

Bucky muscles tensed. He’d never heard any android speak like that. Hell, he wasn’t sure he’d ever met an android who smirked.

Steve snapped out of shock first and strutted over to the man. “You can start by telling us who or what you are.”

“Tony,” the man supplied. He leaned casual against the wall, crossing one leg over the other. “And I’m a treasure.”

Steve frowned at Tony’s response. “What does ‘Tony’ stand for?”

“Highly praiseworthy, last time I checked.”

Steve was thrown by Tony’s answer. “It’s not an abbreviation?”

“It could be.” Tony rested his hands behind his head. “If you want to know if I am an android, you could just ask.”

Bucky, Steve, and Sam all shared looks. All of them knew that the government and the companies it had under contract were trying to make more human-like androids, but Tony’s casual demeanor, his gestures, and the way he spoke were so very human that all of them doubted their earlier assumptions. Add to that suspicion, the way he responded to a command and his name not standing for anything, it was hard to believe he was anything other than cyborg.

“Keep gawking boys and I’m going to develop a complex,” Tony teased.

“What were you doing in the garbage?” Steve asked.

Tony shrugged. “I thought I had more power than I did.” Tony patted the device in his chest.

“You weren’t breathing.” Bucky watched the rise and fall of Tony’s chest.

Tony shrugged. “Obviously, I was only mostly dead.” Tony grinned and looked at Steve, Bucky, and Sam as if he were waiting for them do something. When they didn’t react, he frowned. “Probably too old a story for you to get the reference.”

Tony cleared his throat and stood. His knees wobbled as he tried to find his balance. “Not to be a pain, but you wouldn’t mind letting a guy hang around for a few days, would you?”

Bucky was about to explain that had been the plan, but Sam cut in. “I mind. You’re acting pretty evasive.”

“I’m just shy.” Tony waved off Sam’s comment. “I’ll repay you. I just need some time to charge this.” Tony gestured to his chest device. “As well as some time to look into a portable battery pack or a better energy source so I can keep going well after we have separated.”

Steve and Sam shared looks of skepticism. Bucky couldn’t deny that he also was beginning to feel the stirrings of doubt in regards to Tony.

Tony’s eyes slid over to Bucky’s arm. “Okay. How about you let me fix his arm so it doesn’t act like it’s possessed every now and then, and if I do a good job, you consider letting me stay a night?”

Bucky jolted and covered his arm with his flesh hand. “How do you-”

“I recognize that crap piece of a model. That thing is barely worthy of being scrap metal.” Tony put a hand on his hip and gestured at the room. “Listen, your operation here is cute, but it’s obvious that you’re all amateurs. If you don’t want to trust me with the arm, I can take a look at something else first.”

“You really don’t want to go home,” Steve stated, suspicion leaking into his tone.

“What home?” Tony asked. He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter anyway. As I said, I need time to charge or else I’m just going to end up back in that dump or in some alley.”

It was a valid argument. Bucky hadn’t carried Tony all the way home just so the guy would end up unconscious on the streets. “One night isn’t going to kill us,” Bucky said. “And why not see what he can do with some of this junk? It’s already broken.”

Sam and Steve mumbled their agreements after a moment of judgemental silence and pondering. Bucky understood where their hesitance came from. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to help someone in need, but Tony’s evasive behavior when they inquired about what or who he was made them wary. He had yet to give them a straight answer, and while he could just be a secretive person, he could also be hiding something that could put the three of them in danger.

Tony beamed. He bent and picked up the car battery so he could walk around while still charging. He plopped it on the kitchen table-turned-work table. “Now, slide over those toasters and let a pro show you how it’s really done.”  

* * *

 

The one night stay grew into two then three, and soon Tony had stayed a week with Bucky, Steve, and Sam. He was a genius with machines and tech, and repaired things faster than Sam, Steve, and Bucky ever could. He’d also taken scraps that they left lying around and built devices and contraptions that the trio had only ever dreamed of being able to building in their humble abode.

Tony was still evasive, and none of the trio was certain if he was cyborg or android. When they had finally asked him point blank, Tony’s response had been, “Does it matter?”

On the day they had met, Bucky might have answered yes, but after a week of living together, whatever Tony was, he was intelligent to the point of sentient. If he was an android, he wasn’t a “thing,” and he deserved to be treated no different than any other sentient being.

“You have no idea how happy I am that you’re finally letting me do this.” Tony pulled up a stool across from Bucky and laid his makeshift tool belt on the table next to where Bucky had laid his metal arm.

Bucky’s fingers twitched against his will.

He grimaced at his fingers “My arm bother you that much?”

“Your arm is like a teenager who thinks it knows better than everyone else. I’m going to teach it a few lessons that will make it a mature adult.”

Bucky wrinkled his nose. “That’s a weird analogy.”

Tony bent over Bucky’s arm and felt along the panels before selecting his tools for the operation. “Not my best, but it gets the point across.” Tony winked at Bucky. “I promise when I am through, your arm will be worthy of being attached to such a strong and handsome guy as yourself.”

Bucky cocked his head. The corner of his mouth curved into a bemused smile. “Are you flirting with me?”

“I am stating facts.”

“Sure you are,” Bucky said sarcastically.

Bucky watched Tony as the genius worked. Tony was meticulous. He constantly checked with Bucky to make sure Bucky wasn’t feeling any pain as he worked. He was a professional, and a professional like Tony would excel in the inner rings of Midgard. There were only a handful of reasons why someone like Tony would be in the outer rings.

“You’re running from something, aren’t you?” Bucky asked.

Tony didn’t stop working. “Aren’t we all?”

Bucky kept quiet and watched Tony work. Whatever Tony was running from, it was probably for the better that Bucky didn’t know what it was. It meant he wouldn’t have answers when someone came looking for Tony and Tony was gone.

 


End file.
